Festival

Conceived in the heyday of queer theory and AIDS activism, the New Queer Cinema of the early ’90s was a galvanizing but short-lived movement. Still, its edge rubbed off on Sundance, which has since laid out a welcome mat for provocation and transgression. Here’s our list of our favorite films from the Sundance Film Festival.

If it seems like you’ve been watching Mark Duplass on screen forever, it’s not because you have (unless you are 7). He’s only been in features for the past seven years or so, but in that time he’s starred in about a dozen movies, co-directed five, and written a few more. Duplass is an indie film hit-machine. He brings a plainspoken authenticity to both the movies he makes and the roles he takes; he’s an indie performer with a dash of low-key movie-star charisma. Here are ten reasons to love him.

Catch Mark on Sundance Channel’s THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS this Monday 10/22 at 10P.

If it seems like you’ve been watching Mark Duplass on screen forever, it’s not because you have (unless you are 7). He’s only been in features for the past seven years or so, but in that time he’s starred in about a dozen movies, co-directed five, and written a few more. Duplass is an indie film hit-machine. He brings a plainspoken authenticity to both the movies he makes and the roles he takes; he’s an indie performer with a dash of low-key movie-star charisma. Here are ten reasons to love him.

Catch Mark on Sundance Channel’s THE MORTIFIED SESSIONS this Monday 10/22 at 10P.

Whether he’s chauffeuring you home in a golf cart or sneaking up behind you in public, Bill Murray commands your attention. His mere presence at the 65th Festival de Cannes is no different. He is certainly the most important member of director Wes Anderson’s party posse. They’re debuting their latest collaboration, MOONRISE KINGDOM, and while the critical consensus has been golden, a Bill Murray out in the wild will always steal the show! Take a look:

Well, another Coachella has come and gone. This year, we got two weekends of insanity and two weekends of unique fashion choices. The belles in the crowd and women performing in the festival embraced the carefree attitude of the hippie movement, mixed with 70’s nostalgia and a dash of desert rogue a la MAD MAX. Think high-waisted shorts paired with a cropped top—or a bandeau for the brave—and lace up boots that have seen a tour of duty in one desert or another. Of course sundresses still have their place in a woman’s weekend bag, all topped off with crafty headbands, oversized sunglasses, and a flower or two in the hair for good measure. Nothing says party like a West Coast party!

EXTRANJERO, a five-minute film from Daniel Lumb and Crinan Campbell, was announced today as the winner of the Short Film Competition at the first-ever Sundance London film and music festival, 26-29 April at The O2. The film will screen as part of the official Short Film programme at the festival and is available for immediate viewing at http://competition.sundance-london.com/winner-announcement.

Sundance Institute and The O2 announced today the programme of eight short films that will screen at the inaugural Sundance London festival, taking place at The O2 from 26-29 April. These films screened in January at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah – the premier independent film festival in the United States. All eight short films will screen together in one Short Film Programme.

So many films, so little time. I know, 10 days sounds like more than enough time to see your fill of films, but there are 117 feature-length films in the festival this year (not to mention a whole bunch of shorts)! Plus, you need to mix in some time to mingle, look fabulous and get your party on (did we mention Drake and Deer Tick are playing the Bing Bar?). Fortunately, everyone on the internet loves lists and there are tons of good ones out there rounding up what films you shouldn’t miss. And because we’re all about being service-y, we’ve decided to list some of the best ones here:

By now, you’ve probably seen the trailer for SHUT UP AND PLAY THE HITS, the LCD Soundsystem documentary about their last show/the greatest funeral ever. Yeah, it is pretty much the only thing anyone on the internet is talking about. We can’t wait, either and are gearing up for the big premiere on Sunday, January 22nd at the Egyptian Theater. It’s sold out, but you can also catch Mr. Murphy in the Tim and Eric helmed drama THE COMEDY.

Sundance Institute announced today the 22 members of the six juries awarding prizes at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, as well as the host of the Awards Ceremony on January 28. The Festival takes place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah.

Face it, you were not nominated for a Golden Globe and your chances for an Oscar don’t look good, either. It’s ok, though… there is a film award you can still win. Look no further than the Vimeo Film Festival and Awards.

Park City, UT – Sundance Institute announced today that DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST(1991) and REALITY BITES (1994) have been selected for the From the Collection screenings at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival. Both titles are part of The Sundance Collection at UCLA (The Collection), a film preservation program designed to archive work that has been supported by a Sundance Institute program. The Festival takes place January 19 through 29 in Park City, Salt Lake City, Ogden and Sundance, Utah. Ticket information is available at www.sundance.org/tickets.

What makes a city? That’s question proffered by The New Museum’s Festival of Ideas, a five-day-long street fest/symposium on new ideas for “the new city.” This is going to be unlike any other street festival you’ve been to before. Clear your mind of images of those white polyvinyl booth where bleary-eyed hipsters and mellowed-out Earth moms hawk handmade hacky sacks and herbal remedies.

Our movie, SMALL, BEAUTIFULLY MOVING PARTS is going to Austin, Texas this week, and we are in the middle of getting it ready. Our hard work is paying off – we feel like we took the micro-budget bull by the horns and are excited to feel the fruits of that labor, in the form of SXSW audiences – some of the most film savvy, fun-loving audiences in the nation. SXSW is an interesting event – it’s massive, and it’s certainly not only about film. In fact, mention it to a passer-by on the street and most likely they will know about it for the music, first and foremost. Truth is, however, Interaction, Film, Comedy – all parts of this extravaganza are extremely important to their own industries. It’s a massive intersection of some of the most creative people around … all in search of some good barbeque, and an experience that is relaxing, surprising, friendly, and filled with discovery.

Annually arriving between the Fringe festival of bizarre off-Broadway theater and the New York Film Festival for well-heeled cineastes, the HOWL! Festival is a three-day arts extravaganza in the East Village’s Tompkins Square Park, dedicated to the memory of beat poet Allen Ginsberg and presented for nouveaux bohemians who get in free.

But it’s more than just a palate cleanser between fests. HOWL! is a simultaneous throwback and flash-forward that tosses cultural elements together into a giant, jivey be-in for high-def artsy-crafty appreciation. And it starts, aptly enough, with some longtime New York poets (like John Giorno and Anne Waldman) reading Ginsberg’s hallucinatory and historic “Howl” this Friday, September 10, when a whole new audience can decide for themselves if the poem is good-obscene, bad-obscene, or not obscene at all.

My sister and I at The Oakridge Boys
I spent this week in the bowels of humanity. No — literally! I toodled on out to Palm Springs for the Stagecoach country music festival — Coachella’s redneck sister — with my pal Theano and my little sister Emily. And none too soon.

See, here’s the deal with being single in NYC. You can find your physical type, and you can find your mental type — and never the two shall meet. Trust. I’ve tried. So, being a (physical) lover of very large manly men (and you try finding big manly guys who know how to fix a tire in NYC), I decided why not just wallow in a sea of my physical type and while I’m at it — get to see Merle Haggard, The Oakridge Boys, Sugarland, Brooks & Dunn, Toby Keith, and a whole lot of sweaty cowboys?

From June 10-14, New York City will host the second annual World Science Festival, a series of programs and lectures that highlight the big questions in science and how they influenced the big questions in other fields, like philosophy, ethics, and the arts. The festival’s primary mission is “to cultivate and sustain a general public informed by the content of science, inspired by its wonder, convinced of its value, and prepared to engage with its implications for the future,” a reminder that that science part of all of our lives, from the philosophical to the practical, and is worth knowing about.

If you find yourself in the Land Down Under in the next month or so, be sure to make a stop in Sydney for the inaugural Vivid Sydney. Developed by Events NSW in partnership with the City Of Sydney, it will be the biggest international music and light festival in the Southern Hemisphere, showcasing the city as a major creative hub in the Asia-Pacific region and celebrating the diversity of Sydney’s creative industries.